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Marketing mix is one of the major concepts of marketing. According to the traditional base, there are 4Ps of marketing. These are referred to as the marketing mix. But in the modern use of the term, many more Ps have been coined. People have found six, seven even eleven Ps of marketing. In this article we will talk about the 4Ps and 6Ps.

Four Ps

The four Ps of marketing mix consist of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Product means the thing that you are selling. It can also be a service like the tourism industry.

Price means the rate at which the product is being sold. A number of factors are involved in determining the price of a product. These include competition, market share, product identity, material costs and the value customers perceive of a product. In fact prices are also determined by competitor’s products. If the competitors have the same product, then the price of a product will go down.

Place refers to the real or virtual place from where a product can be bought by a consumer. Another name used for place is called “distribution channel”. Promotion is the way that a product will be communicated to the general public. There are four distinct ways in which this might be done- ‘point of sale’, ‘word of mouth’, public relations and advertising.

Somewhere down the line people felt that four Ps were not enough for marketing mix. It had to face a lot of criticism mainly on the grounds that it was extremely product focused. This was not enough for the economy which is based a lot on services as well nowadays.

Another criticism that marketing mix has to face is that it does not have a ‘purpose’. So it should be looked upon as a tool that sets marketing strategy. Another criticism of marketing mix is that it does not discuss customers. This is why the concept of Six Ps of Marketing mix has achieved relevance.

Six Ps

The six Ps contain all the four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. In addition, it contains, two new Ps, namely People and Performance.

People include the potential and current customers of the business and how they make their purchase decisions. Market segmentation is also a part of this. It contains the features of market segmentation and the most attractive segments of this market.

The next P is Performance. This implies the performance of the business. The financial and strategic objectives of the business are dealt with here. It is also seen whether these objectives are achievable and realistic or not. The metrics of financial performance are also seen and appropriated in this division.

The six Ps of marketing mix help to overcome the criticisms of the four Ps. Hence the 6Ps serve to be a better alternative as compared to the 4Ps of marketing mix.

For the new internet entrepreneurs, starting and marketing a home business are really the problem. It requires lots of patience and devotement to succeed online. And you can only suceedd it if following some steps below without afraid of being broken.

1) Link Exchanges – Advertise your web business for free with a text link. Link exchange takes only a few minute an may also increase your search engine ranking. You could establish 10,000 links to your website but if they have no relevancy to a search request, they don’t mean anything to the search engines.

2) Online Mailing List – Make sure you capture your visitors’ emails addresses. Start a newsletter for your visitors. Keep them up to date on your products or services. Use follow up e-mails to get the sales.

3) Use Testimonials – Use your satisfied customers to your advantage. Your potential customers will put a lot of weight in what other customers say. Testimonials are simply positive statements from your customers.

4) Develop And Publish A Free E-Book. Give away an ebook on a topic you are an expert in – it raises your credibility and sales.

5) Article Marketing: This is a very powerful method to build your brand awareness and reputation. Article Marketing also gives you traffic, sales and expert status. You can take advantage of article marketing without a writing background.

The above guides are the most basic for your success in home business marketing. Believe and use them to get more and more clients to your business.